Amazon dominated retail in 2018 — and no one else even came close to touching it

Amazon
had a killer 2018 in nearly all respects, but its retail
performance defied expectations.

The company is projected to close the year netting half
of all online shopping done in the US with staggering sales
growth online.

No other retailer came close, which is why we're naming
it the most impressive retailer of 2018.

For retail in 2018, there was really only one word that was on
everybody's lips: Amazon.

Ad

Just a mere mention of the online shopping giant sends other
companies into a flurry of speculation - whether Amazon competes
directly or not.

It's easy to see why: Amazon is seeing incredible growth for a
company of its size, making it one of the biggest retailers in
the US and the world both online and off.

In the US, Amazon will close out the year nabbing nearly half of
all online sales,
according to analysis by Emarketer, up from a 43.5% in 2017.
Amazon will generate $258.22 billion in online retail sales
in the US by the end of the year, a staggering increase of almost
30% from the year prior.

But impressive sales aren't the only thing that Amazon got right
in 2018.

Amazon Web Services and Amazon Advertising are both also
experiencing phenomenal growth, and its Alexa-enabled products
remain the most popular smart devices. It's moving increasingly
offline with Amazon Go stores, and its new 4-Star concept.

As a company, it was able to perform to this impressive standard
despite a growing set of detractors, both from elected
representatives and the public. Despite a glitchy Prime Day that
made customers upset. Despite HQ2 backlash. Despite competitors
like Walmart nipping at its heels. Despite a trade war waged
between China and President Trump and shipping costs becoming
incrementally more expensive.

Despite it all, Amazon will head into 2019 more confident than
ever that nothing will hold it back. Now that is impressive.